U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,519, granted October 12, 1982, to Patrick M. Bogart, and assigned to The Boeing Company, discloses two different ways of securing a mounting member to a stringer, each of which employs a pair of hooks engageable on flange portions of the stringers and a mechanism between the hooks which is operable to draw the hooks into tight clamping engagement with the flanges.
In these prior art attachments, a ratchet-type clamping mechanism is used. In order to move or adjust these prior art attachments, it is necessary to pry a ratchet pawl from its engaged position. Prying on the pawl may cause it to crack and break, thereby causing the attachment member to be unusable and creating undesirable waste.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,876, granted October 21, 1975, to William E. McSherry, discloses another type of mounting attachment. This attachment member is secured by fasteners inserted through mounting holes or by pressure-sensitive adhesive. Because drilling through the flanges of a stringer may affect structural stress performance, attachment by this method is not acceptable. The use of an adhesive requires that the securing means be destroyed when the attachment member is removed for repositioning.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a mounting member of this general type which is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, and which is stronger and more durable than the prior art devices.